Delhi’s air quality: Campaign to reduce vehicular pollution returns after a year | Delhi News

NEW DELHI: A year after it was halted by lieutenant governor VK Saxena, who questioned its effectiveness, the Delhi government is set to relaunch a campaign to reduce vehicular pollution on October 26.
According to insiders within the city government’s environment department, it has been clarified that the “Red Light On Gaadi Off” campaign this year will not necessitate permission from the LG, as participants will not receive any honorarium as they did in previous seasons.

Delhi’s environment minister Gopal Rai conveyed to the press that the campaign is scheduled to commence on October 26.

Nonetheless, he clarified that the odd-even car-rationing scheme, which permits cars to operate on alternate days depending on whether they have odd or even number plates, is not currently being contemplated.

The “Red Light on Gaadi Off” campaign, originally introduced on October 16, 2020, seeks to mitigate vehicular pollution in the national capital by motivating drivers to turn off their vehicles while waiting for traffic lights to transition to green.

In 2019, a study carried out by the Central Road Research Institute revealed that leaving engines running at traffic signals can lead to an increase in pollution levels of over 9 percent.

Furthermore, a study conducted at the Bhikaji Cama Place traffic intersection by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA), which operates under the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas, disclosed that over 62 percent of people began switching off their vehicles after a campaign with a similar objective.

Rai also stated that the city government has identified an additional eight pollution hotspots, supplementing the existing 13, in the national capital.
Special teams will be dispatched to these locations to examine the sources of pollution.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has also chosen to employ suppressant powder as a measure to alleviate dust pollution.
Delhi’s air quality declined to the “very poor” category on Sunday, marking the first instance of such deterioration since May. This decline is primarily attributed to the decrease in temperature and wind speed, enabling the accumulation of pollutants.
There was a marginal improvement in air quality on Monday, as the 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) was measured at 263, in contrast to the 313 recorded on Sunday.
With agency inputs

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